James Gurney

This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

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or by email:gurneyjourney (at) gmail.comSorry, I can't give personal art advice or portfolio reviews. If you can, it's best to ask art questions in the blog comments.

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However, you can quote images or text without asking permission on your educational or non-commercial blog, website, or Facebook page as long as you give me credit and provide a link back. Students and teachers can also quote images or text for their non-commercial school activity. It's also OK to do an artistic copy of my paintings as a study exercise without asking permission.

Friday, June 3, 2011

2. Reduce the cast shadows or caustic effects below the lenses on the cheek, and the shadows beneath the temple pieces. In this watercolor-pencil drawing of my friend Paul, I only put a small accent underneath the frames to show where they touch the cheek.

3. De-emphasize the nosepads, too. In general, these details don’t add to the impression of character; they’re just accidental effects.

4. If you have a dark background, the far lens can be suggested with just a curving white line. If you’re working in ink, you have to carefully draw around that shape.

5. As you start the drawing, lightly indicate the glasses, but otherwise ignore them. Try to draw the face without the glasses at first. Erase them with your mind as your draw.

6. Once the face and eyes are constructed, then “put on the glasses.”

7. Big or dark frames often cast shadows over the whole eye area, so the modeling on the eyes may need to be a bit darker than they would be without glasses.

8. Sometimes you may want to capture the optical effects of glasses. Glasses distort the size of the eyes, and they usually shift the contour of the cheek. Reading glasses make the eyes bigger and move the cheek contour outward. Distance glasses for nearsighted people make the eyes appear smaller and move the cheek contour inward.

9. For cartoony character effects, you may want to eliminate the eyes altogether inside the glasses frames, leaving a smudge or a foggy patch, which gives a “clueless” look. For this “goofy” sketch of Jeanette, I drew her glasses crooked.

10. Just a small hint of the glasses gives the full impression of them.

This was my go at a self portrait in glasses. I tried to indicate a little bit of reflected light. The original photo was taken in Times Square so there were a little of signs and things reflected in my lenses. I hope this link works

many people have trouble with the perspective of glasses, and lose their dimensional shape in the delicate curves of the frames. I think of the pair of lenses as the front side of a rectangular box, whose sides are the bows over the ear. relating the 'box' of the glasses to the 'box' of the head lets me keep the arrangement clear.